Beyond New Labour?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Ed Miliband’s speech to the National Policy Forum this morning was widely billed as moving the party “Beyond New Labour”. However listening to the speech it’s clear that Ed doesn’t want us to junk the policy platform that largely served us well over the past thirteen years. He’s right, we don’t need to fall to the floor and rend our hair over the actions of the last government. There is much of that policy platform that we can be rightly proud of. However, it’s also time to acknowledge where we made mistakes, and how. In reality it’s the how that’s important.

In the end, New Labour was seen as being distant from the public, and from party members too. In the nineties the party seemed to have an instinctive sense of what the country wanted. As we sought to deal with the problems caused by eighteen years of Conservative rule we remained popular. Our priorities matched with those of the public, and we were rewarded for that synchronicity.

Soon though, new problems flared up – often as unintended consequences of decisions that we had taken in government. Being in government necessitates taking tough decisions, however all too often the party was so distanced from the electorate that these unintended consequences weren’t even seen, or worse, weren’t considered a problem. In our final years in government we saw the monsters that our actions (or inactions) had created. Job insecurity, immigration and housing. We must be honest about our record in these areas and show the same vigour in tackling them as we do in opposing reckless coalition cuts. This policy review must show that Labour understands these concerns and has an answer that is both practical and rooted in our values. However if we solve the problems that we identify in opposition but once again ignore those that flare up once in government then we are certain to continue this cycle of policy failure.

What must come out of the review of party structures and policy forumlation is an ability to develop policy that is rooted in the day to day concerns that we see and hear in our communities, and to retain that link once we are back in power. Linking the Labour Party to our communities and hearing their concerns once back in government must be out eventual outcome of this long but crucial process.

Only then will be learn to realise our mistakes before it’s too late.